Authoring Signable Documents; Best Practices For Signed Documents That Will Change; Setting Up The Signing Environment - Adobe 22002486 User Manual

4

Authoring Signable Documents

Acrobat's digital signature capabilities allow authors to set up a secure signing environment and create
simple documents and complex forms with one or more fields. Document authors can design documents
with multiple signature fields each with unique behavioral characteristics and appearances. A signed field
can lock other fields so that signed data can't be changed, and authors can force certain signature fields to
be a required part of a workflow. Attention to signature field design and configuration can help you make
the document "do the right thing" when someone receives it as well as control what that person can and
cannot do with it.
For more information, refer to the following:
"Best Practices for Signed Documents that will Change" on page 46

"Setting up the Signing Environment" on page 46

"Working with Signature Fields" on page 56

"Authoring Signable Forms" on page 62


4.1 Best Practices for Signed Documents that will Change

Some workflows require that someone enter form data, provide annotations and comments, or sign a
document. When the form author has authorized or the application allows such changes, the changes are
not flagged as problematic or warnings. In general, the goal should be to design documents and
workflows so that both the signature status and document status are always valid.
Best practices for signed documents that will change vary by role:
Document author: Form fields can be ordered, named, and associated with behaviors that limit

changes in signing workflows.
First signer: Use a certification signature for the first signature in a document and set Permitted

Changes after Certifying as needed. The specified actions should not result in a warning triangle to
appearing on signatures.
Signature validators and subsequent signers: View the signed version of the document and look at

the signature's status icon in the Signature's pane as well as the document status icon in the message
bar. If there are any issues or problems, read the text. You may also wish to view the document the PDF
signature report, view modifications, and so on.

4.2 Setting up the Signing Environment

A number of preferences control how your application, the document, and the signature will behave in
signing workflows. These preferences tell the application where to look for Windows certificates, control
signature appearances, enable the use of preview mode, and so on.
46